The Tanabanta Heist: A Poe and Tallie Adventure
by letterstosnapdragon
Summary: Before The Force Awakens, General Organa sends her two best pilots, Poe and Tallie, on a desperate mission to break a Resistance spy out of a Republic prison. Rumor has it that the spy knows of a secret First Order starfighter that's under development. It's up to Tallie and Poe to try and steal the fighter before the First Order can use it to bring tyranny to the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1: D'Qar

**Chapter One: D'qar**

There were too many TIE fighters. But then again there were always too many TIE fighters. They seemed to breed like boilswamp gnats. As deftly as she could, Tallissan "Tallie" Lintra toggled down her X-wing's shields, channeling the power straight into the engines and the blasters. Being used to her light, fast, A-Wing, the heavier starfighter felt to Tallie like more like bulk cargo freighter than something that could go toe-to-toe with TIEs. At least the X-Wing had good solid frame. Burning hard on one engine, she spun around in a tight circle and caught a TIE right in her crosshairs. With a quick squack of the cannon it disintegrated into a bright orange ball of plasma.

"Nice shot, Blue One," cracked Poe's voice over the comm. Mentally, Tallie added the TIE to her count. It was number forty one. Another one to paint on the side of her A-wing when she got back. It was dark out in deep space, far from any system. It was rare for battles to take place so far from a planet, but at least it made the scope readings crisp and clear. Fourteen more TIEs were swarming around and four X-wings each from Black and Blue Squadrons were in the midst of them.

"Thanks, Poe," Tallie replied and then added "Got the beast in my sights. Prize is docked to it." The target was dead center in the scope. An old Carrack class cruiser from the late days of the old Republic, the target was now the flagship of a nasty group of pirates who had been lucky enough to capture a freighter full of some highly valuable, and highly explosive, hyperfuel from under the nose of the First Order. The freighter's crew had sounded the alarm and soon after a Star Destroyer had blasted out to intercept. And because they had tapped the First Order chatter, the Resistance had sent in Black and Blue squadrons to cause a whole mess of chaos for both the pirates and the Order. It was what they were best at after all.

"I see it," Poe responded. "And the destroyer closing in on it from the far side. Blue Squadron, go hit the pirate ship before that destroyer can close. Black'll keep these TIEs off your back."

"Aye, Poe." came the chorus of responses from the Resistance pilots. Tallie was about to add her own, but a violent blast hit the fuselage behind the cockpit. The entire fighter shuddered with a shock that Tallie felt all through her spine. Instinctively, she went to run a system check only to find that the familiar readout wasn't there. It was an X-wing.

"Sixes, how're we doing?" she asked. On ships like this the system checks were done by the astromech droid. BB-66 was on loan for this mission. A series of annoyed squeaks and chirps followed and Tallie read it on the display. "Well," she said. "I also wish they weren't shooting at you."

"Waroooo bop."

"Glad that all checks out." They were slower than a tiller-droid, but thank the Force that X-wings could a take a beating.

"Wirrrrr."

"Sorry, Ello couldn't be here, Sixes. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. Just keep an eye on that stabilizer." The droid beeped its agreement.

"All right, Blue Squadron," Tallie said on the all-comm channel. "Let's show these womp rats what Resistance pilots are made of. Starck, stay on my wing. We'll head straight in and draw their fire. Bastian, you and Pava do a deep dive and come up at that cruiser's belly." An alarm annoyingly went off in the cockpit. There was a TIE bearing right in and it had her in lock. Jerking the controls hard, she spun around and blasted it into a billion pieces before completing the turn and accelerating back toward the pirate's cruiser. Forty two. TIEs were fast but they weren't maneuverable. It was a lesson you'd have thought the First Order would have learned back when it was still called the Empire.

Glancing at the controls, Tallie noted that the forward shields were nearly done. One more good hit and they could be done for. Poe'll manage the rest of the TIEs, Tallie thought to herself. If the pirates had any starfighters they'd be old Headhunters or even more ancient ARC's. It would better for everyone if they got this over with as quickly as possible. Why risk lives if you don't have to? Killing the power to the shields and cannons, she poured everything into the ion engines. Even if they fried, she'd only need the hyperdrive to get back to D'Qar. The little droid in the back didn't like what she was doing and expressed her disappointment.

"Hang on, Sixes. I know what I'm doing." There was a quick warning chirp as the engines started exceeding maximum capacity. Tallie dismissed it. What did engineers and designers know? With subtle agility, she slowly pushed the stick forward. Both engines roared and groaned until Tallie could feel the acceleration pushing her back into her seat. Her speed increasing, Tallie sped closer and closer to the cruiser until she had left the rest of Blue Squadron and the battle with the TIES far behind. The entire X-wing began to angrily shutter and shake. Still she pushed the stick forward. More and more alarms began to blare across the cockpit. The droid added her own beeps and whistles to the cacophony. One engine cowling burst off with a blast of smoke and sparks.

"Rrrrorrry?" The droid asked.

"Yes, I do," Tallie said. The target was almost in range. Her cannons were dead but the proton torpedoes were ready to go. Toggling the fire control, Tallie took a look at the targeting computer. She smiled. The star destroyer was bearing down on the cruiser and almost on top of it. Tallie smiled. Then she fired a barrage of torpedoes just as the second engine cowling burst off. As she watched the glowing blue streaks head toward the target, Tallie let herself ease off the stick. The right engine shuddered to a stop as it caught on fire. Quick as she could she shut down the other engine and let Sixes spray the fire down with suppressant. Tallie watched as the torpedoes found their mark and hit the freighter straight on. With a tap she flipped down the blast shield on her helmet, and just in time.

Even with the shield down and her eyes closed, Tallie could still see the flash. For a moment it illuminated her eyelids a dull orange before it faded. Flipping up the blast shield Tallie winced. The cloud of plasma was still bright enough to hurt her eyes a little. The First Order's hyperfuel freighter, the pirate cruiser, and the star destroyer were gone.

"Target destroyed," she said over the all-comm.

"Nice one, Tallie," Poe replied. "All units return to base."

"Sixes," Tallie directed the droid. "Set a course for D'Qar." The smile on Tallie's face was still there when the stars transformed themselves into streaks of blue as the X-wing blasted to hyperspace. One star destroyer gone and zero Resistance casualties. If only all the missions could go this well. 

* * *

Tico had greeted her with nothing but an angry glare when she had finally set down in the dimly lit and always busy main hanger. It was a rare mission that didn't annoy Ground Logistics by giving them loads of extra work. Popping open the canopy, Tallie took off her helmet, happy to feel the cool, underground air on her face. Turning to Tico, Tallie mouthed a slightly embarrassed "sorry" before unhooking all her suit's feed tubes.

After undoing the harnesses, she hopped up, happy to feel the muscles in her legs finally stretch after a few hours in the cockpit. The soreness as they stretched out was comforting. Feeling that at the end of the mission meant you had made it. Not everyone got to feel those sore muscles and maybe one day she wouldn't get to either. A part of Tallie hoped that one day, after the First Order was gone, she'd make it back to Pip and live the quiet life. But another part of her knew she was probably going to buy it in the cockpit. It wasn't a bad way to go after all. One moment you're flying and the next you're a bright burst of plasma. It would happen so fast you'd barely be able to notice. No fear, no pain. Just white hot plasma.

After getting changed back into her comfies, Tallie did her best to duck out of the pilot's ready room as quickly and as quietly as possible. Most of the other pilots spent the time before their after mission briefing relaxing and socializing with kour, a liquor some of the troops had figured out how to make by fermenting the local D'Qar pittubers and sourfruit. While Tallie understood why they needed to unwind like that after a mission, she preferred to decompress in her quiet place; a rarely visited storage room in the back of the shield generator's machine room. It was small and cramped, but she could stretch out a little, rest her elbows on some cool pipes, close her eyes, and get lost in the gentle and persistent white noise of the machines. It seemed to be one of the only places in the Resistance base where one could go to be alone for a few moments. She let her breath out in a long, relaxing exhale.

"Lieutenant Lintra, report to the command center," came a sudden call over the base's loudspeakers. Were they really going to bust her chops over a couple overheated ion engines? Sure, it probably wasn't the smartest thing in the galaxy to do on a mission, but could they really nitpick over that when a pirate ship, a star destroyer, and a whole mess of the First Order's fuel was out of commission? Were they supposed to have captured the fuel? No, they wouldn't have sent in X-wings for that. General Organa had definitely said "neutralize" in the mission briefing. Neutralizing always meant vaporizing. Then the announcement repeated. "Lieutenant Lintra, report to the command center."

"Reporting," Tallie said with a sigh as she picked herself up and headed over to the command center. 

* * *

"General Organa," Tallie said as she snapped to attention. It was unusual to see the command center, the nerve center of the base, so quiet. Normally there would have been technicians at every station, monitoring comm traffic, watching sensors, or checking the shields, the recyclers, or the main generator. Now General Organa stood alone in the center of the room. Wearing a delicate gown and sparkling jewelry that would have been more fitting at a Coruscant party than a war room, the General looked small and out of place amidst all the grime.

"Thank you for coming, Lieutenant Lintra," the General said. There was something about her voice and bearing that reminded Tallie of the best sabaac players. With no one else around, Tallie assumed the worst. Recklessness on a mission wasn't a reason for a court martial was it? Her fears faded when Poe Dameron came bounding into the room, his breath smelling strongly of kour. If the General noticed, she didn't react.

"Captain Dameron," the General greeted him. Then she dryly added "I see you've been celebrating a successful mission." So she had noticed. She would have had to. Dameron reeked.

"I spilled some on my uniform, General" he did his best to explain. The General gave a knowing look but let it slide.

"Tallie, Poe," she said informally. Both took the cue and let themselves relax a little. "You're the two best pilots in the Resistance. Poe, I remember that crazy stunt you pulled on OR-Kappa. And Tallie, congratulations, I think you're the first Resistance pilot to add a First Order Star Destroyer to your scorecard." Hearing it from the General, Tallie felt ten meters tall and she did her best to keep a smile from breaking out. Quickly, she glanced over at Poe who was an old pro at playing it cool. Organa continued. "I have a secret mission and I need two good pilots. I can't stress enough how delicate this mission is. There's a target we need to extract from a prison cell. The target is friendly to the Resistance and has information on a new First Order weapon, rumored to be a starfighter, that's under development."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Poe said in his usual brash manner.

"Oh," the General responded. "It will be. The target is on Hosnian Prime. Being held in the headquarters of the Republic Security Bureau. Liberate the target. They will lead you to the new First Order fighters. Retrieve the fighters and bring them here without the First Order tracking you. As you may have heard, the Republic is riddled with First Order sympathizers, so this mission has to be done off-data. If you're caught and identified as part of the Resistance it could lead the Republic withdrawing their support. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Poe responded. "No problem." Tallie was surprised that he had agreed so calmly. There was a sinking feeling deep in Tallie's gut. A mission to go against the Republic, to break someone—most probably a Resistance spy—out of heavily guarded facility? This was all far outside Tallie's area of expertise. This wasn't jumping in a starfighter and blasting the First Order. This wasn't flying. Every bit of her wanted to say no. But that wasn't really how the Resistance worked. When the General asked you to go, you went.

"Yes, ma'am," Tallie reluctantly said, her voice suddenly feeling small and weak.

"We have already put the data you'll need in BB-8's computer system. Good luck. And may the Force be with you," Leia said. With that the little droid rolled up and gave a friendly whistle. Leia nodded, turned around, and strolled out of the command center. Tallie gave Poe a nervous look, not bothering to hide her hesitation. Finally letting his bravado down, Poe smiled worriedly.

"I know, right?" he said as he crouched down and gave his droid a playful pat on the dome.

"Yeah," Tallie said because she was unsure of what else to say. Outside, General Organa must have signaled to someone because the command personnel were beginning to filter back in, bringing the place back to life. "I guess I'll go get my gear."


	2. Chapter 2: Oontoonine

**Chapter Two: Oontooine**

Once the transport got past the planet's rings, Tallie felt the kick as it jumped to hyperspace. She and Poe sat in the passenger session, separated from the cockpit. Before the mission she had changed into her old civilian clothes; tall black boots, tight black pants, a shirt that had once been white but had aged into a dull tan, and a light grey jacket with loads of pockets. It was an outfit she hadn't worn in a time long ago when. Not since she left the farm on Pip behind to go off and see what trouble she could scrounge up out there in the Galaxy. At her side was a beat up DL-46 blaster in a borrowed holster.

The passenger cabin was small but comfortable. As they couldn't be spotted in a Resistance ship, the General had arranged for them to be transported out on an old passenger transport that the Resistance had found, or more likely stolen. Across the aisle, Poe sat in what passed well enough for civilian clothes. He'd ditched his favorite jacket for a similar blue one that was a little more beat up and patched in a few places. BB-8 was propped up on the seat and a small datalink with a dajarik board sat on the seat between them. Glancing over, Tallie could see that Poe was losing rather badly, but he wasn't showing it.

"Hey, Poe," Tallie said at last, wanting something, anything really, to break the silence.

"Yeah?" He looked up from the little board where another holo beast lay dying in agony. Droids were so much better at thinking ten or twenty moves ahead.

"We're just pilots," Tallie said, still feeling the cold fear in her stomach. "I'm not a spy. I'm not a commando. Hell, I've never fought on the ground before. Jumping in a cockpit and causing some damage I understand. But this…" She found her voice trailing off.

"Leia's smart," Poe said. Though Tallie had known the General for years, it still didn't seem right to refer to her so informally. Poe seemed to do it just to show how above it all he was. "I don't think she'd send us on something crazy like this if she didn't think there was a good chance we'd come back."

"Sure," Tallie said, though there was something else nagging her. "But we're gonna be breaking Republic laws. I don't know."

"My mom dealt with these guys back in the day," Poe said confidently. "She said the RSB was mostly made up of the same old ISB agents. Just with new uniforms."

"But we're supposed to be fighting for the Republic, Poe. Not attacking them."

"I get it," Poe said. "But the way I see it, this mission is a great chance to kick some ass and really stick it to the First Order. And that's our real job. Not fighting for the Republic. Fighting against all those slick haircut, fancy uniform, jack booted First Order thugs."

"They do have stupid haircuts," Tallie laughed. Most of the First Order officer corps were young, kids practically. There was something Tallie always found funny about spotty young marsh-shrimps in Moff uniforms shouting orders in still cracking voices. Plus they all had slicked back hair that they thought made them look tough.

"Don't get me started," Poe laughed. Then he turned in response to a wicked beep from his astromech. "C'mon buddy, that was my last strider!"

"We'll be at Oontooine in no time anyway," Tallie pointed out. It was only a couple of parsecs out from the Ileenium system. "Wanna go over the mission briefing again?"

"Yeah," Poe said. "Sorry, buddy, I got to work to do. You were gonna win anyway." BB-8 beeped a pleading protest and Poe responded "Well, fine. I officially concede. Congratulations. Now pull up the mission briefing." 

* * *

The only habitable planet in the Oontooine system was a dense, heavy metals planet a little closer to the star than a decent planet would have been. Back in the days of the Empire, it had been stripped mined by armies of giant all terrain automated miners, great beasts that were half droid and half walker. There were no indigenous beings. Still, the Imperials had made it major destination on the slave circuits. Inhabitants of less resource rich worlds were dropped on Oontooine and doomed to toil ceaselessly, digging out raw materials for the Imperial war machine. Since the Civil War, almost everyone had left. But like always there were a few who had nowhere better to go.

Tallie thought about all this as she stood on the edge of a purposefully made crater and looked far across where the settlement of Oonta Bes stood on the far rim. Like many a spaceport on an unimportant world, Oonta Bes was a motley collection of basic, low buildings, many of them pre-fabs, with a few ships, and larger industrial buildings scattered about. The whole planet seemed to be a shiny, metallic silver-brown and a greyish brown haze hung low, turning the air reddish. Harsh wind kicked up dust and Tallie hooked up her respirator. Oontooine's air wasn't dusty. It was worse. All the particulates were heavy metals, many of them radioactive.

"I've seen worse," Poe said as he hooked up his own respirator. Above them, the Resistance transport was already barely visible as it hurried back out of the system. Tallie suddenly felt seriously vulnerable.

"Where?" Tallie asked. "Rordak?" The Rordak system had been an Imperial prison colony that the Empire had, thanks to some orbital sunshields, locked in perpetual darkness. They said the life expectancy of new prisoners on Rordak was less than six months. What with all the toxic metals in the air, a sentence to Oontooine couldn't have been much better.

"C'mon," Poe gestured towards the settlement. "Let's hit the cantina and see if we can't find a ship."

"Next time the General sends us on an insanely dangerous spy mission," Tallie said. "I am going to request somewhere way nicer. Upper Coruscant or Canto Bight or somewhere."

"Keep your scanning up, BB-8," Poe said as the trio began making their way around the massive crater's rim. Judging from how small the abandoned AT-AM's on the bottom looked, you could easily have fit a couple super star destroyers inside and still had room for five or six First Order dreadnaughts. "We don't want any surprises." The droid gave a worried beep that faded into the sound of the howling winds that boiled up from the all the massive craters that gouged the planet surface. 

* * *

There was no band playing in the cantina. There were barely tables. Most of the furniture consisted of old crates, containers, gonk droid shells, or any other scrap that could be scavenged from the mines and dragged inside. Species from all over the galaxy huddled at their makeshift tables or stood around the bar. Tallie spotted a couple Ithorians, common targets of the Imperials slavers back in the day. A lone Lasat— probably a bounty hunter by the looks of him—sat in the corner nervously eyeing the other patrons. Green clouds hung around a Gand at the bar who smoking something that was probably illegal on any planet with laws. Next to the Gand a couple Jawas were busy bartering with a Rodian junk dealer over the price of what looked like a steadyscan vindicator.

With a head nudge, Tallie directed Poe toward the bar where a towering grey haired Wookie stood serving drinks. Pulling off his respirator, Poe followed with BB-8 staying close around his legs. As they came up the Wookie roared at them. Though she didn't speak Shyriiwook, Tallie knew a few basics.

"Two bitterburns. Make 'em tall and easy," Tallie said as she tossed some of old Imperial credits on the bar. The Wookie took the coins, and then shrugged as if to say that custom orders weren't something he was interested in on this particular afternoon. After a moment, two large metal cups plunked down on the counter. "Keep the change," Tallie added a she picked up the drinks. Handing one to Poe, she noticed that the cups were made out of old the old forearms of a protocol droid. At least they held a lot of booze. She really needed a drink.

"Let's grab that spot by the wall," Poe said gesturing to an empty table opposite the wall. For a while they sat, drinking the mostly acceptable bitterburns and scoping out the bar and its patrons. Anyone who was doing business tended to sit by themselves out in the open. Plus you could tell they had something to sell by the way they immediately looked up to checkout anyone who entered the cantina.

"Lot of ships," Tallie said. "By the looks of it." One other way to spot the pilots is how they weren't closely and jealously guarding a locked case full of spice, blasters, or who knows what else.

"Keep your eyes out for a pilot that looks trustworthy, honest, but too stupid to really keep up."

"Sounds like your type of guy," Tallie couldn't help but laughing. Maybe the bitterburn was stronger than it tasted.

"Oh, like you're one to lecture me about guys," Poe joked. I once saw you make out with a Devaronian-"

"He had a very good sense of humor," Tallie defended herself. Her face was red thanks to equal parts embarrassment and intoxication. "Unlike you who can't seem to resist anyone as long as they're tall, muscular, and way too serious. And kinda dumb." Tallie laughed and then added "You totally have a thing for Mandalorian dudes."

"That was one guy, alright. One guy." Poe laughed. "Okay, maybe a couple. I don't know. Something about how they look in that armor. Once you go Vizsla you're hooked for life. What can I say?"

"They do tend to keep in shape."

"All I really want," Poe said thoughtfully. "Is a nice guy, well, maybe a little bit of a jerk. Well put together. Maybe a little smarter than me. And with a good home somewhere, you know? I never really had a home other than the Resistance. I want a guy who has a planet with history and its own culture and its own food and stuff. Just a place, you know?"

"Yeah," Tallie said. "Back when I was on Pip I fell hard for this mechanic who used to help fix up my dad's old crop duster." Reaching up behind her, Tallie undid her bun, letting her long blonde hair fall around her shoulders for the first time in a while. Absentmindedly, she gave her scalp a good scratch and took a long pull off her drink. "He was cute, obviously. But he, uh, was descended from Alderaan survivors. Something about that just seemed so utterly sad and romantic to me. You know, as though just because of who his grandparents were I figured he had the soul of a poet or something. Even though he was covered in ion core grease."

"I know what you mean," Poe said dreamily. Then he pointed to a seemingly random table. There was lone man sitting there. Young but well worn, his skin was taut and tanned, and he sported a mop of unkempt ashy brown hair atop his head. "What about him?"

"Him?" Tallie said in disbelief. "He's a messy goone-berry pole. Looks like a lazy Scarif waverider. Not for me. But if you wanna buy him a drink, don't let me stop you."

"No," Poe protested. "Not a hookup. A pilot."

"Oh," Tallie said as her mind shifted gears. "Yeah, let's go check it out." Together they got up and, with BB-8 staying close, made their way over to the waverider's table with. Slowly, he looked up and nodded. Tallie and Poe sat down at the table and glanced around warily before starting their conversation.

"Ever heard of Hosnian Prime?" Poe asked. It was a stupid question. Ever since the Concordance, the Republic government had been bouncing around to different worlds. Officially it was to foster a sense of equality between worlds, but most everyone knew that settling in on Coruscant would have been a little too much like the Empire for comfort. Hosnian Prime was the current Republic capital and even on a place like Oontooine people would be familiar with it.

"What?" the waverider asked.

"Hosnian Prime," Poe repeated. "Big world. Lots of buildings. Right near the Core."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"We're looking to book passage there. Heard you had a fast ship."

"Yeah," said the pilot. Tallie noticed he was wearing most of a second or third hand Imperial technician's jumpsuit under his dirty brown duster. "I can get you there."

"How much?" Tallie asked. "We can pay two thousand."

"Twenty-five hundred," the waverider counter-offered. "Plus five hundred for fuel." The Resistance had given them ten thousand for the mission. They drinks had cost twelve plus a couple for tip. Three thousand was totally fine. But no one booked a ride in an Outer Rim cantina without haggling. Give in too easy and they'd figure you for loaded. That meant a good possibility of showing up to the ship only to be robbed.

"Twenty-five hundred square," Poe counter-counter offered. He very briefly shot Tallie a bemused look. For a long moment, the waverider stroked his wiry chin hairs as he considered it. That prompted Poe to theatrically shrug his shoulders and stand up. "C'mon," Poe said. "There's a bunch of other ships." It worked.

"Alright, alright," the waverider said exasperatedly. "I'll take ya. It's a YV-929 at the edge of town. Red markings. Meet me there in thirty and bring the credits."

"Great," Tallie said as she stood up. She extended a hand. "I'm Devi. This is Vizslo."

"Almo Wuxtry," said the waverider as he shook hands. Poe nodded a greeting and then quickly downed the rest of his drink. Tallie followed suit and did her best to stop her burning throat from making her hack uncontrollably.

"We'll find you, Wuxtry," Poe said as he pulled his respirator back up.

"Bring the credits," Wuxtry repeated.

"Don't worry," Tallie said. "We'll get your money." That was the way to say. We will get your money. We don't have it. But we'll get it. That should keep the bandits off their backs for a while. She snapped on her respirator and hoped it would be the last time she'd ever have to go outside on Oontooine.

"On the orders of Supreme Leader Snoke, we are hereby seeking volunteers for a First Order labor battalion," came a harsh voice from the entrance. Then stormtroopers marched in and blocked the exits. Their black clad officer, a young dark haired man who didn't look much older than twenty, stepped up, his voice amplified by a speaker on his belt. "You have all volunteered. Prepare to be inducted."

"Or we could just go now," Poe said as he upholstered his blaster. Pulling out the credits, Tallie pressed them into Wuxtry's hands and grabbed her own blaster. BB-8 let out a frightened whistle and rolled behind them.

"You there," barked a stormtrooper as he raised his blaster and pointed it right at Poe. "Drop your weapons." A couple other stormtroopers followed suits until Poe, Tallie and Wuxtry directly in their sights. The other troopers were beginning to fan out, grabbing the closer patrons and dragging them outside. Some ended up with blaster-rifle butts to the head as encouragement to get outside. Tallie exchanged a quick look with Poe. He was doing his best to maintain a relaxed air, but she could see his jaw tensed tightly.

"You wouldn't me on a work detail," Poe said. "I'm very, very lazy." For a moment Tallie glanced over at Poe and gave him a tired look.

"Less joking, more blasting," she said scoldingly. With a quick flick of her hand she raised her blaster and landed a shot right in the faceplate of one of the troopers. Ducking down behind the gonk-droid-cum-table, she fired a few more shots in the troopers' general direction just to force them to take cover. Firing a few blasts, Poe ducked down too. After a moment, Wuxtry also crouched down behind the table and chairs. The entire cantina had become a storm of blaster fire. A few patrons were ducked behind the bar, and with the Wookie bartender, had formed a well defended firing line.

"Is there a back door?" Poe asked no one in particular. Glancing around, while being sure to continue firing at the stormtroopers, Tallie didn't see any exit other than one currently occupied by a good number of stormtroopers.

"Doesn't look like it," Tallie said. The only way out was through the stormtroopers. They were trapped. She was trapped. In an X-wing you could never be trapped. Space was big and open with lots of room to maneuver. This, on the hand? This was crazy. In her heart, Tallie knew a Resistance fighter should be firing back, but her instinct was the sit down behind the gonk droid and make herself as small as possible. Poe was doing his best to fire a few shots at the troopers while remaining mostly in cover. It was all Tallie could do to not shake with fear. Holding her blaster tightly, she did her best to simply keep her composure. She wanted to cry but Resistance fighters didn't cry.

In fact she was so focused on keeping calm that she barely noticed when BB-8 reached out a little grabber claw and tugged at her sleeve. She gave him a curious look but he kept tugging. Finally, he let out a frustrated wail followed by an annoyed series of beeps.

"Your pocket," Poe said.

"Oh," said Tallie as she holstered her blaster. Reaching in her fingers found a couple small squarish shapes—the kinetic detonators. Tallie smiled nervously as she pulled on of the kinetic detonator from her jacket's shoulder pocket. Priming it, she slid it across the cantina floor over to the far the wall. Poe smiled back and plugged his fingers in ears. Tallie did the same while Wuxtry sat there looking confused. There was a huge blast that shook the cantina and filled the room with smoke and dust. "I found a back door," Tallie said as she grabbed her blaster again.

"Let's go," Poe said as he stood up. Grabbing Wuxtry by the collar, he hoisted him up and shoved him toward the brand new hole in the wall. Keeping low and firing blindly behind her, Tallie made her way for the hole with BB-8 rolling close behind her.

Outside it was already getting dark. Oontooine spun twice around during a standard Galactic day. Tallie popped on her respirator and looked around. There were far more lights and activity in Oonta Bes than when they arrived. The atmosphere was too thick and hazy to see the stars, but Tallie knew that a star destroyer had arrived in orbit. Bright lights along the edge of town showed where First Order landing ship had set down. Some buildings were already on fire and the entire town was rocked by screams, blaster fire, and angry shouts. This was what the First Order did. This was all the pain they caused.

"Where's this ship of yours?" Tallie asked Wuxtry.

"Right up here," Wuxtry said pointing over to a low hill in the distance. Thankfully it was in the opposite direction of the First Order's landing. They had barely started moving when another squad of stormtroopers came running around the cantina in their direction with shouts of "there they are" and "get 'em." BB-8 beeped curiously.

"Yeah," Tallie replied to the droid. "I got a few more." Pulling out another detonator, she tossed in the trooper's direction. Poe and Tallie didn't bother waiting for the sound of the explosion. Instead they took off in the direction of the ship with Wuxtry and BB-8 keeping up the rear.

Though it wasn't far to the ship, Tallie was already out of breath when they got there. Still, it was easy to push yourself with a squad of troopers chasing you. The ship was as Wuxtry had described; YV-929 with red markings. At least on the parts where the red markings hadn't worn away. And on the parts where the parts themselves were still there. Quite a bit of the outer panels had rotted away, the sensor array was gone, and one of the engines was simply missing. What parts there were probably hadn't been cleaned or maintained since before the Clone Wars. Tallie also noticed that all three of the front gun mounts were missing.

"Are you sure that thing can fly?" Tallie asked incredulously.

"It got here, didn't it?" Wuxtry said half-heartedly as the boarding ramp lowered. Shaking her head, Tallie ran up the ramp. Around her blasts from the First Order stormtroopers landed on the hull of the ship. Poe paused under the ramp to return fire for a bit as BB-8 rolled up the ramp. Finally, as the hydraulics kicked in, he hopped on the already closing ramp. The ship slowly rumbled to life and found the sky. 

* * *

"How long before you can make the jump to lightspeed?" Tallie asked as she came into the cockpit and took a seat. Though the ship wasn't much to look at it, and was even less to smell, it did move pretty well. Most of the interior had been gutted. Where cabins and fixtures should have been there was only a large open space full of exposed machinery and Wuxtry's dirty laundry. A hammock hung between a fuel line and an atmo pipe. The ship must have been salvaged from a junk heap halfway through the scrapping process.

"Uh," Wuxtry said as he futzed with the navicomputer. Slowly he turned around and sleepily said "There's, like, this problem, sister. Right?" He took one hand off the controls and waved toward the cockpit viewport.

"Star Destroyer," Poe said as he came up to the cockpit. "Do the cannons on this wreck still work?"

"Look at thing, man," Wuxtry said. "I'm not gonna fight them. That'd be crazy."

"Move, waverider," Poe ordered as he pushed his blaster's barrel into the pilot's back. Putting up his hands, Wuxtry slowly stood up.

"If you want the ship, man, take it," Wuxtry said and Poe shoved him away from the main console. "Ain't worth much anyway."

"Tallie," Poe said. "Ya got this?"

"Yeah," Tallie said as she shifted over to the pilot's seat and scanned the console. Grabbing the controls, she tapped a few entries in the navicomputer.

"Just make the jump," Poe said. Then he turned to Wuxtry, smiled and hit him with a stun blast right in the chest. After the pilot hit the deck with a thud, Poe turned to BB-8. "BB-8, take him to the back." The droid gave an annoyed whine, then extended a grasping arm. Snagging the man's pant leg, he started slowly dragging him to the back.

"Fighters!" Poe announced as he took the co-pilot's seat. Outside two bright white TIEs were screaming straight for the freighter.

"I see 'em," Tallie said as she fought with the controls. "Ugh, this thing handles like a sandcrawler."

"I'll get the forward shields."

"Still, I think it handles better than an X-wing," Tallie joked. Outside the cockpit, Almo Wuxtry groggily opened his eyes. He was being dragged back toward the cargo hold, but he could still hear two thieves laughing it up in the cockpit.

"There is no finer ship than an X-wing," Poe replied as he adjusted the shields. "And that's coming from the best pilot in the Resistance, okay? And wait'll we get our hands on those new secret First Order fighters. Then I'll really show ya."

"Resistance?" Almo thought to himself as he tried to wake himself up. "Those terrorists are trying to steal my ship!" Then there was an angry bleep from an astromech, another flash of blue light and Almo fell back into peaceful unconsciousness.

"Almost got the calculation," Tallie said as the fighters drew closer. The freighter shook as it began taking fire. "Got it!" There was a huge creaking rumble that rattled every part of the ship as the stars faded and they blasted to lightspeed.


	3. Chapter 3: Hosnian Prime

**Chapter Three: Hosnian Prime**

Though it was the fourteenth planet in its system, Hosnian Prime was right in the middle of the system's temperate zone. Atop vast a glass smooth ocean stood myriad small islands, each covered from shore to shore in mile high skyscrapers. Between the buildings and islands walkways bustled with speeder and foot traffic. Hoversails darted over the straights and open waters.

One they had clearance, Tallie had set the YV-929 at the cheaper spaceport island further out from the center of the Capitol city. She and BB-8 descended the ramp, her eyes squinting in the bright sun that reflected off the water. At the top of the ramp, Poe was nearly done untying Wuxtry. When the pilot was freed, Poe stepped down.

"Sorry about the stunning," Tallie called out as they walked away from the freighter. "At least we paid you." Hosnian Prime's cheap spaceport was way nicer than most of the one's Tallie had come across in her travels throughout the Galaxy. Everyone was new and clean. No doubt that was to impress visiting Republic delegates and their staffs.

"RSB's on the main strip," Poe said. On the transport, BB-8 had shown them a hologram of the entire government district. A wide avenue with a park in the middle ran between the Senate meeting building and the Court. Along the sides stood the offices of the various bureaucracies along with the senators' offices. The Republic Security Bureau headquarters was a tall, thin silver spire, though not quite as tall as the buildings of some of other more, influential departments.

Security was already thick on the ground. The entire spaceport was patrolled by groups of green clad planetary officers with sleek black, antenna heavy DPOS droids hovering all around. If this were the spaceport, Tallie shuddered to think what RSB HQ looked like. Not only did they have to get inside the building, they had to go the detention level in a deep sub-basement, break out the Resistance spy, and then manage to get to a ship without being killed or arrested. A good part of her wanted to run right back to Wuxtry's wreck. Above she could see that it was already headed out, leaving a trail of oily black smoke as it flew toward space. 

* * *

"Resistance, I'm telling you. A guy, a girl, and one of them rolly droids. Said something about looking for some new secret First Order fighter," Wuxtry spoke into the Comm. "I just thought you should know. You know, in case there's any rewards, right?"

"Your information if most appreciated," came a distorted yet calm, educated, Coruscant accented voice over the half broken comm speaker. "Should it yield suitable information, the First Order will give you your reward." Wuxtry smiled and leaned back in his pilot's chair. It served those Resistance spies right for stunning him on his own ship.

* * *

"Just walk by," Poe said quietly as they approached the RSB building. Around them the street was busy with popnut and stickfly vendors, loud buskers including a Ortolan playing the every annoying four-mouthed shrillchord, fast walking delegates and functionaries, busy bureaucrats, and tourists from across the galaxy who gawked at everything. Poe's direction made sense. Nothing drew attention quite like standing on the street out front studying the RSB building.

Instead, Tallie tried to use her peripheral vision as she strolled by. Just like at the spaceport, there were a lot of security droids hovering around. At the front door there were at least twenty RSB security agents in black uniforms and helmets. A couple different droids—big boxy new types that Tallie had never seen before—stood with them at the main entrance. They were probably sensor droids looking for weapons, but then again they might have also been heavily weaponized security guards.

"Lot of grunts," Poe said under his breath. "Let's go around and see if there's a service access." Tallie was about to agree but something caught her eye. Around the front entrance a stood a loose assembly of tourists. Most of them from were from Mon Cala by the looks of it, though there were a few humans and a tall Abednedos with a decraniated human carrying its baggage. The decraniated always bothered Tallie. They were dead, but what if a part of them were still in there? She shuddered at the thought. The important thing was the shining silver protocol droid that was busy trying to herd the group together.

"I have an idea," Tallie said as she pointed out the group to Poe.

"A tour? I've heard worse ideas." Poe said looking around. Then he pulled out his blaster's batpac and crouched down to where BB-8 stood. With a quick tap of a button, a hidden drawer on the droid's body popped open. "Give BB-8 your blaster pack. This compartment's custom. It's scanner proof." Tallie did as instructed and BB-8 retracted the drawer. Then the three walked up to the tour group just as the protocol droid was beginning his official speech.

"Greetings. I am C3-A7, human cyborg relations. We are going to commence our tour of the Republic Security Bureau headquarters facility. I will take this time to remind all guests of the Republic that there are no weapons of any kind permitted within this facility. Eating, drinking, smoking, use of glittersim, or any other type of ingestion of consumables is forbidden while the tour is in progress. Holocrecording is forbidden. Please remain with the group at all times. And save all questions for the end. Come now. This facility was initially constructed as the sector headquarters for the Galactic Marine-Wares Corporation which was then operating under a treaty with the Aquaculture Guild…" The droid continued its speech as it led the group through a special side door.

Poe and Tallie hung toward the back of the group. As they neared the door, four security guards stepped up, separating them from the main group.

"Let me see your blasters," the officer said coldly.

"All, deactivated," Poe said as he held out his blaster by the barrel, presenting the handle. Tallie did likewise and a sinister looking black DPOS droid hovered down. It scanned the weapons and gave a signal to the officer. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two orange clips.

"You can't go in unless these are tagged," the officer said, his demeanor now friendly. With thick fingers, he fastened thick orange clips onto the triggers. "Bring 'em around front after the tour. We'll unclip 'em for ya. Enjoy the tour. Especially the hidden weapons display. That's my favorite."

"Thanks," Tallie said as she took her blaster back and re-holstered it. With a few quick paces, she, Poe and BB-8 caught back up with the rest of the group in the building's large and bright lit lobby. Every surface was made from white galazite stone from Tanomir. On the large wall opposite the door, a Republic Security Bureau emblem had been formed from even rarer and more expensive red galazite stone.

"Once we get upstairs," Poe whispered. "You distract the droid. BB-8 and me'll break off. See if we can't find a quiet spot to access their network."

"And of course refined galazite stone also has conductive properties and can be found in many common products, including in several of my own servos and circuits," the protocol droid droned on before directing the assembled tourists toward the main lift bank. "Now, let us go to the seventy-third level where our tour of the facility continues with an intimate look at the important work of the Document Retention Department. Poe, Tallie and BB-8 crowded into the lift with the others and were the first off when they finally reached the higher level.

The seventy-third level was much less ostentatious than the lobby. Instead of fine stone, there were cheap grey synthsteel walls, buzzing lights, and four long hallways stretching out from the lift bank. With a jerk of his head, Poe signaled Tallie who approached C3-A7 and tapped the silver protocol droid on the shoulder. RSB bureaucrats and droids walked around, giving the tour tired looks.

"I heard that the first Death Star was really an inside job and that Luke Skywalker was actually seen on the Death Star that day wearing an Imperial uniform. Does the RSB have any proof of that hidden in any of these offices?" Tallie said as she began making her way toward one of the hallways. Turning around, she mouthed "go" to Poe before continuing on toward the random hallway. "I mean, think about it. Why was the Emperor not on board, right?"

"Please save all questions for the end of the tour," C3-A7 said uselessly as it followed after her. "Also that is irrelevant to today's excursion. Please remain on the standard tour route. You will miss interesting information about document retention and disposition policies."

"Hook me up, buddy," Poe said and the droid popped its drawer out again with an excited beep. Grabbing it, Poe rearmed his blaster and then held the orange clip down for BB-8 to cut off with his spark welder. Quick as he could he headed down the opposite hallway and went to the first door he saw. With a whoosh it opened, revealing a small office where an older, grey haired woman sat working at a holoterminal. With beady, annoyed eyes, she looked up.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes," Poe stammered. "I'm with the, um, Office of the Bureau of Divisions, Department." Poe winced then quietly said "Sorry." A wide blue blast stunned the woman who slumped down in her chair.

"Real discrete, Poe," Tallie scolded him as she came in. BB-8 had already found the holoterminal connection and was busy trying to interpret the RSB network.

"Once BB-8 finds our prisoner, we head down to the detention level, blast our way in and bust 'em out."

"Poe," Tallie said with a stern expression on her face. "This is the Republic. We can't go around 'blasting' people, even with our weapons set to stun. This a bureaucracy. We have to think like bureaucrats, okay?"

"Alright," Poe conceded. "What do you have in mind?" Tallie double checked that the door behind them was locked and then began glancing around the room. The holoterminal caught her eye as did the unconscious RSB worker's uniform. Then she looked down at BB-8 who was beeping excitedly.

"We got 'em," Poe announced. "Lower Detention Level. Cell number eleven thirty eight."

"Alright, I got an idea." 

* * *

At his terminal RSB Agent Darm Rensen tried to figure out how many years he would have to sit at a sub-basement terminal before he could finally transfer to one of the cushy upstairs jobs with a beautiful view of the surrounding city lights, the lakes and oceans, and the rocky mountain islands suspended in mist just past the horizon. As a Level 2 Operative, it would be while. Even more so because the placement computer had put him in Facilities Security. Over in Analystics they were getting promotions every time someone sneezed. Rensen figured it was the placement computer being buggy. Everyone knew it had a rather cantankerous personality.

Just then the main door to the Lower Detention Level lift banks slid open. Looking up, Rensen saw a young agent in an ill-fitting uniform that gigantic on her. That was bureaucracy. There were only two uniform sizes; too big and too small. Standing to a sharp attention, Rensen put his hand on his holstered blaster. It was procedure after all. Looking at the agent's rank insignia, she definitely outranked him. Though Rensen noticed that she seemed rather young for a Level 28 Over-commandant. It was all about who you knew.

"Identify yourself," Rensen barked. Suddenly Tallie realized that she probably should have figured out the agent's name before trying to run around impersonating her. Should she make something up? That'd be too easy to figure out. There were cameras, and DPOS droids everywhere. They all probably had facial recognition mode and they could probably remote read the code cylinders on every single RSB agent's uniform. Code cylinders. That was it. Pulling it out, Tallie handed the agent's code cylinder to the guard.

"The High Vice Counsel of the Sub-Sector Appeals Court has determined that prisoner 010138 may meet with defense counsel," Tallie said in her best impression of a commanding bureaucratic drown. Eying her, the Rensen loaded the cylinder into the terminal and scanned her information. The code said that she was Republic Security Bureau Level 28 Over-commandant for Headquarters Procurement and Routing Logistics. Why would she be coming in for a prisoner?

"If you are here to see prisoner 010138, where is the defense counsel?" Rensen asked as he moved to inconspicuously unholster his blaster. His other hand started to move toward the system alarm switch.

"He's right behind me," Tallie called out. Then she turned around to see Poe stride in. His jacket was now buttoned up and his hair was slicked back but his two day beard, holstered blaster, and boots gave him away.

"Defense counsel," Poe announced as he strode in. "My client is innocent. I demand to see-"

"You're not defense counsel-" was all Rensen could get out before a stun blast hit him.

"He didn't hit the alarm did he?" Poe asked he rushed around to the terminal. Pushing the unconscious Rensen to the floor, Poe checked over the terminal. Everything was still normal—for now. These stations had to report in every few minute or all hell would break loose. After BB-8 rolled in, Poe hit the controls to lock down the door to the lifts. That would probably also draw attention pretty soon.

"You were supposed to clean up!" Tallie said as she readied her blaster, then got down to grab the guard's blaster as well. The main detention block was beyond a blast door that stood solid and sturdy behind the guard's station.

"I am cleaned up!" Poe protested. All he earned was a disapproving look from Tallie. "What?"

"So what's the plan there, counsel?" Tallie said as she readied her blasters. Beyond the blast door was the main detention control room for this detention level. They would need to get in, find the prisoner, and get out. Getting out was going to be the trickiest part.

"We open the blast door," Poe said. Then he paused for a second, as if thinking up a plan, and added "And stun everyone in there. And hope they don't trip any alarms."

"That's your plan?"

"Yeah, that's my plan." Poe said. BB-8 gave him an exasperated beep. "Right buddy. Okay, BB-8'll access the system and shut down the alarms."

"Better," Tallie conceded. Then she looked right at the blast door. Poe placed his hand on the door controls. BB-8 rolled over to the terminal and extended a connector arm into the machine's port. "Alright, Poe, ready?"

"Ready," Poe confirmed. They had no idea how many RSB agents, guards, and droids were on the other side.

"Let's do it," Tallie said with false bravado. If she ended up dying, at least it would be Poe's fault. She could die cursing his name with her last breath. Although, thinking about it she would probably curse the person who shot her. Better to die in an A-wing where you don't get a chance to even know you're dead, much less curse anyone.

There was a mechanical groan and a whooshing noise as atmo pressure equalized. Tallie didn't even wait for the blast door to open all the way. As soon as it started splitting along the seam, she was firing. With a scream, she rushed up and started blasting anyone she could see. Two guards went down immediately, then a tech caught the blue bolt and collapsed onto their terminal.

Stepping into the room, she took a half moment to get her bearings. It was a large, two story room. Two rows of terminals ran parallel down the center of the control room. Above them there was a balcony that ran around the entire perimeter. That must have been for administrative offices, guard quarters, or weapons rooms. Four or five technicians and agents were beginning to take cover below the terminals. There were two more guards, now getting their blaster rifles readied, at the far end, standing in front of another blast door. Those must be the cells. A DPOS droid hovered high up and was beginning to start blaring out warnings.

Running between the terminals, Tallie managed to stun the technicians an agents but immediately started drawing fire herself from the guards and DPOS droid above her. Quickly she ducked under the terminal herself only to be showered with sparks as the DPOS droid began blasting it.

"I got it," Poe announced and Tallie looked up to see him fumbling with his blaster. The DPOS droid glided over to him, its blasters firing. Finally Poe got the blaster switched and a few well-placed shots reduced the droid to a pile of smoking slag.

"Nice shot, Poe," Tallie said as she took aim at the two remaining guards and took them out with a bright blue stun shot. Standing up, she headed toward the far blast door. BB-8 was already rolling toward it, beeping and whistling to let her know that he would get it open. Behind her, Poe found the controls and locked down the blast door they had come in. It sealed shut and Poe joined Tallie to watch BB-8 work on the next door. After a moment of crunching computer noises, BB-8 let out a happy little tweet. The door slid right open.

"Let's get our spy," Tallie said as she ran down the long hexagonal hallway lined with doors. Soon she found the cell and hit the controls. The door slid open and Tallie stepped down into the cell.

"About time Leia sent someone," said the spy. Middle aged and small framed, she had a shoulder length blue hair with yellow highlights and wore what looked like a heavily modified and creatively decorated set of Mandalorian armor.

"I'm Tallie," she said. "We're with the Resistance."

"Thanks," said the older woman as she stood up. Despite her age she still moved with a spryness in her step. "I kinda figured that. Sabine Wren. Unofficial Resistance agent. Good to meet you, Tallie." Sabine stepped past Tallie and out into the hallway.

"Our spy?" Poe asked as he and BB-8 came up. Tallie nodded.

"How are our alarms?" Sabine asked as she looked around. Holding out her hand, she gave Tallie a look and nodded at her blasters. Tallie handed her one and Sabine checked it over before she continued down the hallway.

"BB-8 shut 'em down for now," Poe explained. "But it's not gonna take long for-"

"No, it won't," Sabine interrupted as they stepped back into the control room. Several fires were burning. And though the staff were still knocked out, it wouldn't take them long to come to. "Let's get the speeder bay. It's two levels above us. We'll take the maintenance access stairs and avoid the lifts."

"How do you know this place?" Tallie asked as they ran up to the outer blast doors.

"Leia's had me sneaking around RSB for a while now," Sabine said as the blast doors opened. Thankfully there were no RSB personnel waiting for them. "Most of the higher ups are ISB old guard. Buddy of mine on Lira San helped tip us off. Lots of First Order sympathizers. Come on, this way." Sabine took at left past the lifts and then blasted open the controls for a smaller nondescript door. As the controls fizzled, it slid up revealing a small, dark corridor.

Inside they found a dusty staircase lit only by the emergency lights. After a couple flights there was another small door which slid open. The four exited the maintenance access next to the workshop of the RSB ground vehicle bay. The large hanger was well lit, with scores of speeders; sleek personal transports, heavily armored assault speeders, swoop bikes, and non-descript undercover vehicles. There were a few mechanics and some of the newer R8 units doing maintenance on a few speeders, but otherwise the place wasn't busy.

"Let's steal something fast," Poe said, pointing out a polished black triple five.

"Fast and armored," Sabine corrected him.

"There," Tallie said as she pointed out a nearby urban assault speeder. Grey and shaped like a blocky shoe, it had a top mounted dual cannon turret and two grenade ports on each side. The large speeder looked heavily armored but with engines big enough to give it some speed. Sector commands from Nal Hutta to Naboo used them to disperse crowds, break up riots, and, in the less enlightened parts of the galaxy, put down slave revolts.

"Let's go," Sabine commanded. Poe, Tallie and BB-8 sneaked up to the speeder as quietly as they could and found the main hatch.

"Locked," Tallie reported as she tried to open the door. "Should we blast it?"

"BB-8, can you break us in?" Poe asked. The droid responded with a negative whine.

"Might as well," Sabine said as she blasted the door controls. The door slid open but suddenly the shrill wail of an alarm filled the space. Lights began flashing. Sabine motioned them to jump in. "That's probably just a fire alarm."

Inside, Poe ran to the cockpit where he sat down in the driver's seat and began prying out the main access computer's user panel. Rolling up, BB-8 extended an arm and helped him rip the panel off, exposing a mess of wires. Tallie came into the cockpit and looked down. Outside she could hear the alarms blaring and outside the small cockpit viewport she could see a pod of DPOS droids swarming toward them. RSB troops were coming right behind, blasters at the ready.

"You got this?" Tallie asked.

"I think so," Poe said as his fingers struggled with the various wires. "I know, buddy, but there's isn't a green one." Reaching down, Tallie found the access circuit wire—the teal one—and gave it a sharp yank. It snapped. Then she found the wire that came from the initiation controller, pulled it out and stuck the two together. There was a small shower of sparks and the assault speeder's engines roared to life.

"C'mon, you never stole a skyhopper when you were a kid?" said she as she sat down in the co-pilot's seat. Already blasts were beginning to rock the speeder. It had been built to take a beating.

"Alright," Poe said as he took the controls. "Where's Sabine?"

"On the cannons," she called back. Tallie found the shield controls, toggled them up to as high as they could go without draining power from other systems, and pulled up a local carto-reading.

The assault speeder began to speed toward the exit. There were a few smaller speeders in the way, but Poe used the nose of the assault speeder to shove them out of the way. Sitting in the gunner's position, Sabine began targeting the security droids one by one. One of the RSB techs has seen what was going on and tried to close the vehicle bay doors. The gigantic door was slowly sliding shut, but Poe pushed the controls forward as far as they could go. Instantly, Tallie cut the shields down and began funneling all the available power to the engines.

"BB-8," she called out. "Do you think you can override the safety controls?" The droid shook his dome and gave a worried bleep of a response.

"Do it, buddy," Poe commanded, as he did his best to swerve around a few of the troops that were trying to block them. The door continued to close, threatening to cut them off from their best escape route. Reluctantly, BB-8 found a port and cut in the safety override. The lights on the console went red and Tallie upped the speed more, despite the warnings from the speeder's rather annoyed computer.

With a dangerous sounding roar the assault speeder's main engines began exceeding the manufacturer's limits and the assault speeder made it through just as the bay door was nearing the ground. The speeder shook violently as it blasted out into the street. BB-8 let out an alarmed cry.

"I can see that, buddy," Poe said. Then he turned to Tallie and reported "Didn't quite make it through. Lost the rear engine cowlings. But we should be okay."

"Should be," Tallie repeated with a worried look on her face. Then she checked the carto-reading and called back to Sabine. "Where are we headed?"

"Blissex Island," Sabine called out. "Waste and recycling sector." From her perch, Sabine could see that a swarm of DPOS droids were following them. In the distance she could just about make out a flight of fighters headed straight toward them. They were too far out of range, but Sabine sent some blasts up to keep them on their toes. From the looks of them they were old Imperial TIE strikers that had been refurbished, suped up, and painted in the green, gold, and blue of the official Hosnian seal. They were faster than they looked though and before Sabine could take one down, they dove down in a quick attack run, then began to circle around for another. The entire assault speeder rocked from multiple hits.

"Tallie-" Poe called out.

"Shields," Tallie said. "Already on it." Then she turned her attention to the carto-reading. With a few taps she toggled it to holo mode and a small, blue, transparent model of the city began to hover over the left half of the console. Poe, on the right, looked over.

"Where's Blissex island?" Poe asked. Tallie tapped a few more buttons and a series of bright blinking arrows appeared, cutting through the hologram display.

"My ship is hidden in a disused biosludge processing plant," Sabine explained.

"Biosludge?" Poe asked with visible disgust.

"Last place anyone would look, I guess," Tallie offered. "So once we get there where are we going? The General said you had the intel on this."

"Yeah," Sabine said as she caught a few droids in her crosshairs and took them out with a couple quick squacks from the cannons. "There's a Senier Fleet Systems secret projects laboratory on Tanabanta. They're working on the galaxy's most advanced booster engine for starfighters. The First Order is set to buy it from them as soon the testing is completed."

"So, we're gonna steal it first?" Poe asked as he steered up onto the pedestrian lane to avoid a sector patrol speeder that was heading straight toward them. Whoever was in charge of the RSB, they sure seemed to have a lot of friends. Fighters, patrol ships, and droids were beginning to fill the air and there were local security on swoop bikes, Republic troops in attack speeders, and RSB agents' speeders right behind the stolen assault speeder.

The back entrance of the RSB building had led to a narrow street lined by slightly less tall buildings, shops, and large pedestrian plazas. With a hard right, the assault speeder turned onto a long, narrow bridge that led out of the more posh parts of the city toward the industrialized zones. Ahead of them was a series of causeway connected islands covered with low warehouses, belching fume stacks, and a few random fires that might have related to some manufacturing process, or might not have been. The only problem was a roadblock between them and the islands. Several patrol speeders and a good number of troops were blocking the bridge.

"Yeah," Sabine said as she took out the engines of a local sector command speeder. It skidded to a flaming stop and covered the bridge with dense oily black smoke. "That's the plan."

"Can you hotwire 'em," Poe asked with a smile as he braced for impact. The assault speeder broke through a barricade and knocked two smaller security speeders and their occupants straight into the water.

"Let's hope so," Tallie said. Then she saw it. "Poe!" she cried out. A larger Republic capital ship, a CR90 corvette was coming down right on top on them, creating a barrier they couldn't crash though.

"Hang on," Poe said as he jerked the controls again and took the speeder straight off the bridge and over the water. There was a sharp sound of tearing metal as they caught the assault speeder's side on the corvette's landing strut. There was a terrible weightless drop and then the assault speeder splashed down hard in the water before finding its bearings a few meters above the surface.

"Almost there," Tallie called out. The water had given them a slight shortcut and what's more had given them back the initiative. Tallie liked it much better when her opponents were reacting to her instead of the other way around. Skimming low over the water, the assault speeder kicked up a good amount of white spray all around them. From time to time the cabin was rocked hard by a direct hit. Looking at the displays, Tallie could see the shields were beginning to give out.

"Recycler's right there," Sabine called out. She had given up on aiming and was now firing wildly at anything that moved. There was no scarcity of targets.

"Ready, Tallie?" Poe asked. "When we get to the shore-"

"Hit the repulsors as hard as they'll go?" Tallie said. She was already on it. Around the island stood a riprap of white stones and above them a three or four meter seawall dotted with output pipes and drains. Poe nodded and got back to the difficult job of keeping the speeder from flipping. They really weren't designed to go over water and without hydrofins they could be seriously unstable. Tallie could see Poe's hands were white and he was gritting his teeth from the excursion.

"Now!" Poe called out. Pulling back hard on the repulsor throttle, Tallie looked over at Poe and shot him a nervous smile. The speeder's engines sounded angry as the repulsors started to overload. The assault shuttle jumped straight up in the air flying above the sea wall and crashing right into the wall of the recycling plant. There was a grinding whine as the repulsor engines died and the assault speeder fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

"We're here," Tallie said as she quickly undid the straps on her seat, upholstered her blaster and rushed to the back. Sabine was already there at the exit, blaster ready.

"C'mon," Sabine said as she climbed out the side of the speeder and began running toward the building's doors. Poe, Tallie, and BB-8 were right behind her. Above them, Tallie could hear the drone of what seemed like a thousand different ships bearing right down on them. "It's right here."

"Nice," Poe said as they entered the gutted factory space. Inside stood a sleek, fast looking, and seriously well-maintained Mandalorian Kom'rk class fighter parked with its wings tilted straight up.

"Stop gawking," Sabine said as the boarding ramp lowered. "Just get in."

"Right," Poe said as he followed Sabine in. Tallie paused to turn around and give the room a quick look. It was empty. No one had yet caught up with them. Turning around, she followed Poe and BB-8 onto the Mandalorian ship.

"Soon as we break atmo we go to hyperspace," Sabine said as she quickly found her spot in the pilot's seat. "BB-whatsyourname, go plug in, give the navicomputer whatever help it needs." Though BB-8 gave an annoyed beep, he found a terminal and plugged in. As there was no copilot's spot, Tallie parked herself in one of the passenger seats in the back of the cockpit. Poe took the spot after her and buckled up. "Hang on!" Sabine said in the manner of one who knows exactly how fast their ship is. Thinking about it, Tallie buckled up as well. An instant later the ship roared to life and they were off. Blasting past the defense and security ships, the fighter soon reached space and they were off to Tanabanta.


	4. Chapter 4: Tanabanta

**Chapter Four: Tanabanta**

With the macrobinoculars you could just about make out the structure. A squat grey prefab building with a dome stood amidst the tall, bright yellow treeshrooms that surrounded and enveloped it. A few smaller buildings stood around the perimeter. They were on a bluff overlooking a valley that ran between two high plateaus. While official galactic records listed Tanabanta as devoid of settlements that was because no one had ever told them that Senier Fleet Systems had built a secret research facility.

"Still no activity," Sabine reported as she looked up from the macrobinoculars. They had come in cloaked and landed a day's walk from the facility to avoid detection.  
After that they had spent a cold uncomfortable night taking turns watching the site for any activity; scientists, droids, troopers. There hadn't been a peep. Standing up, she let the macrobinoculars hang around her neck. "But that only means we haven't seen activity.

"BB-8, you pick up anything on your scanning?" Poe asked. BB-8 shook his dome and beeped dejectedly. "Nothing."

"Probably too many of these treeshrooms," Tallie offered. Though they were sparser on the plateau, the valleys and warmer areas of the planet were covered in thirty to forty meter tall fungal stipes holding up thin wide caps that varied in color from chartreuse to deep golden brown. On the way in, Sabine had warned them not to touch the treeshrooms at all. The females were harmless, but the males, the neuters, and the drones were poisonous and secreted a painful and debilitating neurotoxin. Most of the treeshrooms were female, though it would have taken an expert to identify the differences between the females and the other sexes. So it was best to simply leave them all alone.

"Don't touch-" Sabine started to warn again.

"Understood," Tallie and Poe said in chorus. BB-8 beeped in agreement as well.

"Well, Poe asked. "Do we go in already?" For a moment Sabine scanned the site again. Tallie knew why she was doing it. Some activity, even heavily armed troops, provided at least some information on what they were heading into. But no activity was worrying. Either there really were no activity, or they could be heading into anything.

"Yeah," Sabine said thoughtfully. 

* * *

"That wasn't too hard," Tallie said as the door slid open. Hotwiring a door wasn't too different from hotwiring a skyhopper or an RSB assault speeder. Even close up to the main building there appeared to be no one around. They had been able to sneak up from the treeshroom forest, past a couple small, nearly crumbling buildings and a grimy yet chugging atmo generator without anyone seeming to notice.

Once inside they found themselves at the end of a hallway that was brightly lit, though the light only seemed to illuminate dust and skitterwebs. There was a gentle humming of far off equipment but otherwise the place seemed empty. As the hallway seemed to lead toward the building's center, Sabine took the lead and started walking that way with two blasters at the ready.

"This still the right place?" Poe asked. BB-8 let out a small, worried whistle to which Poe responded "I hear you buddy. It's creepy all right."

"Shhh," Tallie shushed him and then felt silly about it. If the place was an empty as it seemed to be there was no need to be quiet. Still, the place felt like it should be quiet, like it demanded quiet. Her self-consciousness didn't matter. Poe shut up and they walked quietly to the end of the hallway. There they found themselves in front of a large blast door. With a rotating of his dome, BB-8 looked around for a terminal, found one, plugged in, and slowly the door began slowly creaking open.

"I don't know," Tallie whispered. "I got a bad feeling about this." Metal grinding on metal echoed through the hallway as the door finally opened, revealing the facility's main laboratory room with its giant retractable dome. Hanging from a complex assemblage of catwalks and cranes were two old Imperial TIE fighters. Each fighter had a rough and unfinished looking booster attached to the back with pipes running back to the main hull. Below the fighters there were a few computer terminals lining the walls along with engine coils, hyperdrive coolant tanks, power couplings and all manner of fleeling wire, binding bolts, and piles of random other ship parts. There was so much junk lying around you could barely see the starfighter lift in the floor that indicated the lab must have once been a military outpost.

"What? What? What?" repeated an old woman as she waddled up to the intruders. "You can't be in here! Who are you? Get out!" Standing no more than a meter tall, the woman's face was a dirty laundry pile of wrinkles with two goggles set on top.

"Oh, dear!" announced an aging, limping protocol droid with each of its limbs a different color than its torso. "This is unacceptable." Tallie could see a few more droids milling about amongst the wreck of starship parts; a couple gonk droids, and a multi-armed maintenance droid.

"Is it just you here?" Sabine asked as she pointed a blaster right at the scientist.

"No blasters!" the scientist shouted. "You'll damage my equipment. Who are you brutes? This is a private research station. You're not welcome here."

"Hey, chrome face," Poe said as he walked up and shoved his blaster in the protocol droid's chest. "Anyone else here besides droids and this Ugnaught?"

"I'm not an Ugnaught!" the scientist protested. "I'm a Dressellian. A civilized race."

"Doctor Amarka is the only sentient biological being in the facility," the protocol droid said with its arms up. "Please don't shoot. I am unarmed and only doing my job."

"Are they flight worthy?" Sabine asked, pointing a blaster up at the two TIE fighters.

"Of course they're flight worthy," snapped Doctor Amarka.

"All systems at ninety-nine point nine eight eight three-"

"Great," interrupted Poe. "We're here to steal 'em."

"It's for a good cause," Tallie pointed out.

"Don't you dare!" ordered Amarka.

"Looks like we get up here," Tallie said as she visually traced the catwalk down to an access ladder on the far wall.

"You two take the fighters," Sabine said keeping a blaster pointed at Amarka's angry looking head. "Get 'em back to your base. I'll keep her from doing anything rash." Tallie took a couple steps to head to the ladder only to notice a familiar sound roaring in from outside.

"TIE fighters," she said. "The First Order must have tracked us." The experimental TIEs didn't look like they could take out a sleepy mongroo much less a fresh batch of First Order fighters.

"How?" Poe asked as he looked all around, as though he could see the ships landing from inside the dome.

"Ha!" Amarka barked. "They're going to roast you on a spit! That'll teach you to steal my designs."

"It doesn't matter," Sabine said. Involuntarily, Tallie's head jerked up. Across the laboratory, a blast door opened and a squad of white armored stormtroopers marched in. Tallie fired a couple shots and ducked down behind a scrap pile. Quick as they could, Poe and Sabine did the same while BB-8 rolled behind them. Blaster bolts began to fill the air.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" cried the protocol droid. "Oh, I'm an innocent bystander!"

"Find them," commanded a dark, harsh voice from beneath a helmet.

"Is that who I think it is?" Sabine asked.

"Just some kid I grew up with," Poe smiled.

"Poe Dameron," the voice said with a predatory growl. The sound of an ancient weapon igniting could be heard.

"Yep, I'm here," Poe called out. "Is that you, Darth Solo?" Standing up, Poe took a few shots at the black clad Kylo Ren but the shots ended up deflected by his crackling red lightsaber. Tallie could barely believe it but she saw Poe literally pulled up in the air with nothing supporting him. In an instant he was slammed against the far wall and slumped down unconscious. It was all BB-8 could do to let out a terrified cry and rush over.

"Go check on him," Sabine ordered Tallie. "I'll draw their fire." With that Sabine took off in a run toward the left only to be picked up and flung into the wall like Poe. She too fell to the floor unconscious. With a quick motion, Tallie glanced at her two incapacitated companions. She swallowed hard and wished even harder for an A-wing or an X-wing. Anything. Even a Z-95. But there wasn't a starfighter. It was just her and a single blaster against the First Order.

Looking around, Tallie tried to figure out what to do. She could try and make a run for it. She could lose them in the treeshrooms, get back to Sabine's ship and head back. The mission would be a failure and Sabine and Poe would be captured, and probably tortured and executed, by the First Order. Not a great plan. She could try and get up the catwalk, hop in a fighter, and take off. But that would probably just get her shot and plus everyone would still be captured. She also doubted she could get past whatever ships that the First Order had in orbit. There didn't seem to be any good plans. But then she remembered what she had seen when she had first come in the lab.

"BB-8," Tallie whispered, doing her best to stay hidden amongst the junk. She motioned the droid over and he abandoned his vigil over Poe to come by. Leaning over, she quietly whispered the plan to him. Breathing out, she tried her best to steady herself. It would work. And even if it didn't work, it couldn't possibly be worse than her other plans. Tallie shooed BB-8 away. He rolled to a good hiding place underneath an ion charger cover.

"Alright," Tallie said as she stood up and put her hands up. "I surrender." Dropping her blaster, she walked out from behind the pile of trash. Standing in the center of the lab were at least ten First Order stormtroopers and their leader Kylo Ren. In the Resistance, Tallie had heard stories about Kylo Ren. People said that he was the General's son, that he had studied the Jedi ways under Luke Skywalker, and that he had turned to evil. With his dark robes, helmet, and dangerously glowing red lightsaber he certainly looked the part. Kylo Ren took a step toward her.

"Where are the other criminals?" he growled at Tallie.

"They're dead," Tallie said as she took a step back. "You killed them." Taking another step back, she noticed that Kylo Ren took a step toward her. She backed up one more step and Kylo came forward and tilted his head as he held out his saber toward her.

"Good," he said. "The galaxy doesn't need any more criminals. And you will lead me straight to their hidden base."

"Sure," Tallie said with a smile. "It's right below you. Now, BB-8!" Behind her, the droid let out an affirmative beep as his saw attachment cut through the main hydraulics line. Instantly, the starfighter lift fell straight down taking Kylo Ren and the stormtroopers with it. There was a crash and a cloud of dust as it hit the deck below. Rushing over to Sabine, Tallie shook her and she soon woke up groggily. Across the lab, Poe stood up on wobbly legs.

"Did we win?" he asked as he hobbled over.

"Not yet," Tallie said. "I slowed 'em down but I don't think I stopped 'em."

"You two get to the fighters. I'll keep the goon squad busy until you're off."

"No," Tallie protested. "There's room for two in these old TIEs if we scrunch."

"Go," Sabine said calmly and firmly. "I'll get the dome. Get back to base. Don't worry about me. I outlived the Empire. These thugs are nothing." Tallie smiled and gave Sabine a tight hug. Poe shook her hand and then the two scrambled up to the catwalk with BB-8 using his cables to pull himself up after them. 

* * *

As they roared out of the atmosphere, Tallie could see that the First Order had brought along a star destroyer and its full complement of fighters. An entire swarm of the bugs was bearing right down on them. Inside her cockpit, Tallie noticed some customizations to the controls. The crazy scientist had managed to cram as much new gear into the old ship as possible. The TIEs had been outfitted with a separate hyperdrive and a navicomputer. On top of that there was a new set of controls for the experimental booster. There was a main power switch, a launch switch, and a power meter that was currently set to zero.

"We got company, Poe," Tallie reported over the comm. "I'll cover while you get your hyperspace jump readied. Then you do the same for me, okay."

"I got BB-8 to help," Poe said. "You get ready."

"Copy," Tallie said. Clicking on the navicomputer, she entered the coordinates for Oontooine. Once back there they could get a pick up from the Resistance and get back to D'qar. Outside, she could see Poe's TIE accelerating right into the mess of the First Order ships. It was twenty to one, something Poe could have easily handled in his X-wing. In an old Imperial TIE? That was another thing. Quick as she could she readied the hyperdrive and, just in case, she switched on the booster's power. On the readout the orange power bar began to slowly go up.

"You good to go, Tallie?" Poe called out in obvious distress. "I'm a little outnumbered here." A TIE swooped down on him from above and landed a shot that blew off half of Poe's right wing panel.

"Good to go, Poe. Wanna see what this thing can do?" Tallie said. Then she smiled as the orange power bar flashed green. Punching the launch switch, Tallie was pushed right back in her seat. The TIE hurtled toward the melee at blinding speed. Her fingers tapped the triggers and she got some lucky surprise shots on a couple TIEs that thought they had Poe target locked. Forty-five and forty-six.

"Thanks for saving my neck, Tallie," Poe said. "I can't wait to try that booster out. Jump is locked in. I'm hitting the blue." With that Poe's TIE blasted off to hyperspace. Tallie caught one more First Order ship in her crosshairs and blasted it into white hot plasma. Forty-seven. The star destroyer was gonna have to wait for another day. Pulling back on the hyperdrive lever, Tallie watched the stars blur to lines as she made the jump to hyperspace.


	5. Chapter 5: A New Mission

**Chapter Five: A New Mission**

A handful of pilots came out to meet them on the tarmac. Ello and Nien and Bastian and Jess came out bearing warm smiles, congratulatory hugs, and full bottles of kour. Tallie happily downed half a bottle as they walked back to the hanger. Her tongue loosened, Tallie told them about breaking into RSB headquarters, stealing the boosters and defeating Kylo Ren.

As they neared the entrance to the hangar, Tallie saw a familiar face. The General had traded her formal dress for some basic fatigues. The other pilots bid them farewell and Tallie and Poe walked up and snapped to attention.

"At ease," the General greeted them. "We received the mission report you sent. Well done. Those boosters will help us stay one step ahead of the First Order. Personally, I can't wait to see what they'll do when we hook them up to a one of our fighters." Tallie beamed.

"Thank you, General," Tallie said.

"Happy to do our part," Poe said. Looking over and saw that Poe was beaming too. Sometimes you didn't have to play it cool.

"Poe," the General began. "I have a new mission for you. On Jakku. Once you're there, I need you to look up an old ally of ours. Protect what he gives you and bring it back here as soon as you can." **  
****  
**"No problem," Poe said. "This ally? Is he cute?"

"Maybe. Might not be your type though." The General smiled then turned to Tallie. "Tallie, I need you to head out first thing in the morning. The First Order has been spotted poking around the abandoned kyber mine on Min Hallon. Whatever they're up to it can't be good. We'll need you to take your A-wing and do a recon flight."

"Yes, General," Tallie said. It was nice to know she could manage a successful ground mission, but there was nothing quite like flying an A-wing. 

* * *

Out past the base there were endless rolling hills that faded to purple grey in the distance. It didn't take too long of a walk to get out of sight of the base. Sometimes it was good to get away to a place where you couldn't hear the constant chatter over the loudspeakers, the roar of starfighter engines, the incessant beeping of a thousand droids, or the hum of the myriad machines that helped keep the Resistance base running.

Lying down in the cool, slightly damp grass, Tallie looked up at sky. Clouds were rolling by and past them you could faintly see the planet's rings stretching from horizon to horizon. Somewhere out past those rings there was a galaxy of beings longing to live their lives. Out there was also the menace of the First Order threatening to destroy it all. Tallie was glad that she could help play a part in protecting the galaxy. One day the First Order would defeated. One day there would be no more need for the Resistance. One day she could go back to Pip and live the rest of her life. Or maybe she wouldn't go back to Pip at all. Pip was a lovely place. But Tallie's real home was her starfighter's cockpit.


End file.
